Amazon's growth is further disrupting the US and global retail market landscape and customer expectations. In 2018, Amazon America Station accounted for about 50% of e-commerce sales in the United States, 5% of total retail sales, and the word "Amazon Effect" also came into being. To some extent, the US and the global economy are in the midst of the "Amazon effect." As CEO of a profitable 11-quarter profitable company, Jeff Besos apparently realized that Amazon's development strategy is beneficial to the company.

What exactly is the "Amazon effect"?

Depending on the industry in which people live, the term has a different meaning, but in general it refers to the dilemma that retail stores, especially physical stores, face when competing with Amazon. This is mainly because Amazon provides consumers with more prominent services in terms of logistics, returns, product prices, membership services, etc., which inevitably increases consumer expectations for other retailers. Although this result has led to the collapse of some retail companies, it has also promoted the development of some companies that responded to the Amazon effect in a timely and creative manner, gaining the favor of customers with higher expectations and standing firm.

In a sense, the Amazon effect is one of the “culprits” that are constantly changing in the current retail environment.

Although the Amazon effect does not only affect the retail market, retail companies bear the brunt. In order to remain invincible in this turbulent market environment, companies need to maintain market sensitivity and prepare for possible changes early. With this in mind, this article summarizes some of the effects that the Amazon effect may have on the e-commerce market in 2019, for your reference:

1, "last mile" distribution competition intensified

Amazon has invested heavily in building its logistics network, and now Amazon can deliver any consumer goods to customers' homes in just a few days or even hours. This has put tremendous pressure on other e-commerce companies to strive to catch up with Amazon in terms of product distribution speed and efficiency. After all, there is no evidence that consumers have the expectation of lowering logistics expectations. According to a 2018 study by marketing technology company Criteo, 43% of consumers surveyed expect e-commerce companies to significantly increase distribution speeds in 2018, which is much higher than in 2017.

In order to meet this expectation of consumers, catch up with even catching up with Amazon. It is expected that more e-commerce companies will use express delivery software in 2019.

2, "mobile priority" change

In fact, e-commerce companies have considered and practiced “mobile-first” services more than two days a day, but in 2019, e-commerce companies need to implement this service in a practical way, because 2019 will be a real surpass for shopping app traffic. One year on the PC side. A report released by Criteo in 2017 also pointed out that most of the sales of e-commerce stores with successful shopping apps came from smartphones.

According to customer relationship management system service provider Salesforce, mobile devices generated 68% of e-commerce visits and 46% of orders during the end of the 2018 season. Although in 2018, many companies have given mobile operators a very high priority, in 2019 you may need to put it first, because it will bring you more traffic and sales than the PC.

3. The role of artificial intelligence in the development of e-commerce enterprises is more important.

Amazon has never been a self-sufficient company. In the past few years, this giant has been exploring artificial intelligence and its related applications, machine learning, which has become an important way for Amazon to continue its expansion. Amazon's Alexa smart speaker is a success story that Amazon has made in developing artificial intelligence. More strikingly, Amazon Web Services, which in turn provides Amazon with lucrative profits by providing artificial intelligence cloud computing services to paying users.

Of course, artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in the development of Amazon's e-commerce business. Amazon has launched various e-commerce tools, including the ability to calculate and predict market trends, and increase sales through custom recommendations and ad copy testing. Wait.

Fortunately, other e-commerce companies can pay for artificial intelligence tools even if they are unable to develop them themselves. For example, Towards Data Scienc provides e-commerce companies with chat bots for customer service and AI-based marketing strategies. It is expected that by 2019, Amazon and other companies will deploy a wider range of artificial intelligence.

4, e-commerce grocery sales war will continue

In 2017, Amazon spent $13.7 billion to acquire Whole Foods into the grocery market, shaking the industry. However, the sensibility of Amazon's decision to enter the grocery industry has been questioned by the market, because from 2017 to 2018, the number of Prime members who use Amazon to buy groceries at least once a month has decreased (Prime members spend two hours in the whole food supermarket) Will be delivered).

Another study by research firm Brick Meets Click found that households using physical retailer grocery distribution services cost about $200 a month and have more frequent underground orders than Amazon grocery shoppers, with Amazon shoppers spending $74 a month. For Amazon, this is not an exciting news, but for other grocery retailers and related e-commerce sellers, this means opportunities, which means that this "grocery war" will continue.

U.S. consumer online grocery shopping expenses are increasing. In 2018, US consumers’ grocery online orders accounted for about 5.5% of total US retail sales, which means that 2019 will be the gold for other e-commerce companies to enter the “online grocery game”. time.

Overall, the Amazon effect is real, but that doesn't mean Amazon will be the only winner in the 2019 e-commerce market. With the emergence of various trends and the continued changes in the e-commerce world, competition in the e-commerce market will remain fierce by 2019.